The present invention relates to vehicle brakes and more particularly relates to brake pedal arm lock mechanisms for selectively releasably locking service brake pedal arms in their brake-engage positions.
The use of some sort of brake pedal arm lock mechanism for releasably locking the brake pedal arm of a vehicle in its brake-engage position is well known and has been applied to forestry vehicles, for example, where it is desired that the vehicle be held stationary during winching operations or when an operator leaves the vehicle with the engine running as he might do when connecting winch cables to felled trees, or the like. One such lock mechanism is illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 4,037,487 granted to Ahlschwede et al on July 26, 1977.
One feature of the Ahlschwede et al patented design, which is important and is also present in applicant's design, is that the lock mechanism is designed to be operated by the same foot used to operate the brake pedal arm. However, the patented design has the drawback that in order for the lock mechanism to be activated the operator must first engage his foot with a control member and then depress it together with the break pedal. Thus if the operator should inadvertently forget to first engage the control member, then he must release the brake pedal so that he may operate the control member and pedal together and while he is doing so the vehicle may undergo undesirable rolling. The patented design has the further drawback that it is somewhat complicated.